Archive for the Psychology of Money Category

Wealth and Happiness In the back of our minds, it seems as if a lot of us have a desire to be rich. This thought reminds me of Tevye. The central character in the Tony (10) Award Winning Play, and Oscar (3) Winning Movie, Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye shows us his interesting story about poverty… Read More »

Prior articles discussed 1.) Why you should have a budget 2.) What is a budget and how to get started. This article discusses how to follow a budget each month. Most people easily grasp the first two articles, but few people actually follow or stay on budget. For people who really need a budget but ultimately fail… Read More »

Cash flow management is especially important today as Americans are saving less and are further in debt than at any other time in our history. Let us explore why you should have a budget. The number of people that have and follow a budget is only about 33% of people today in the U.S. Cash Flow Management… Read More »

This article kind of flies in the face of the popular feel good ‘positive thinking’ philosophy, but before you jump to any conclusions, read on. Also, this has many ramifications to personal finances, which I will get to at the end of the article. The Power of Positive Thinking made popular by Norman Vincent Peale in… Read More »

Hedonism isn’t a word we use very often. If loosely defined it means happiness achieved through feeling pleasure. Many psychologists say that one of the greatest barriers to happiness is ‘hedonic adaptation.’ When you are getting ready to buy something, you anticipate the pleasure it will bring. However, after you own it for a short while,… Read More »

I love to read, so a few weeks ago I had a burning desire to purchase an Ereader. I had a lot of reasons for purchasing one, and came up with a great list of my rationale: Ease of getting a book and reading it without the delay of going to the bookstore or library… Read More »

With Thanksgiving only one week away, I thought it would be good to have a financial Thanksgiving post; The attitude of being thankful is one of the foundational feelings we can have for helping us do well financially. When we are thankful for the things we have, we are content and are not in the… Read More »

A new study shows that prior to the current economic crisis, it was the highly educated people that were more inclined to have unmanageable levels of debt. The percentage of Americans with more than 40% of their income going to debt payments increased from under 15% in 1991 to 27% in 2008. You would think… Read More »

Do you think your children are learning from their parent’s financial woes and are practicing better personal finances, such as saving more money? The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported in “Watching Parents Fail Sparks New Rebellion: Saving Money.” I think this could indeed be true, I know we have been transparent with our kids about… Read More »

Various news sources last week reported that inflation-adjusted median incomes haven’t increased since 1995. The recession is partly to blame, since many higher paying white-collar jobs are gone. Over the past 20 years many factories have moved overseas, so higher paying blue-collar jobs are rare. As if those challenges aren’t enough, those with modest incomes have a… Read More »